thearena | Take me down to the river bend [Open]

Who| MCU!Bucky, Elsa and Anna, MCU!Bucky and the Signless, MCU!Bucky and OTA
What| Bucky getting his murder on and also roaming the mall, come say hi
Where| The Marvel store, Centurion Cineplex and other various locations
When| First half of week 3
Warnings/Notes| Violence, death, Bucky's issues

Prompt A: The Marvel Store

The Marvel store has become his home base. Bucky spends every night here, bar something unexpected forcing him to seek shelter elsewhere. He varies his time between resting, pondering over the curious merchandise or taking care of his numerous collection of weaponry, cleaning the knives and gun in a routine that has proven a reliable way to settle his mind, especially in the long inactive hours of the night when sleep often eludes him.

Mostly Bucky chooses to stay in the part of the store dedicated to Captain America though he can be found wandering through other sections. Sometimes, through morbid fascination, he moves to the merchandise dedicated to him, which represents both his past and his current reality. Blue jackets, an old fashioned snipe rifle, stretchy sleeves of ridged silver material emblazoned with a red star and replicas of the black muzzle and goggles he wore as the Winter Soldier can be found here amongst other objects.

Prompt B: Through the mall, specify your own location

Almost every day Bucky leaves the shelter of the Marvel store and ventures out in the mall, patrolling down the levels and then back upwards again. He never does the same route twice and varies the times he visits certain locations, including what part of the day he'll venture into the food court to stuff supplies in a bag to take back upstairs to his allies, in case someone is watching out for him.

He can be encountered anywhere from the locker room on the ground floor to tribute personalised stores on the third. The only place he may avoid is the bookstore, only passing by the outside because even though he and the other Bucky destroyed all their biographies (so he thinks), the place makes him too uncomfortable to venture back inside when he has the choice not to.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Anna stares in horror, reeling as she sees red bloom over Elsa's side, running her hands over Elsa's face, trying to keep her close. To protect her, even if it's far too late for that. The younger sister flinches when Elsa urges her to run, shaking her head--but any thought of staying flees her mind when she hears the gun go off a second time, and then there's a searing pain in her right arm. She doesn't even stop to look at it; the pain echoes through her whole arm, but her head is surprisingly clear. Adrenaline. There's a wet seeping through the sleeve of her shirt, but no time for that. She has to get Elsa to safety.

"Come on," she whimpers, hitching her arms under Elsa's and ignoring the red hot pain in her arm. And she starts to drag her toward the Arendelle shop, inch by agonizing inch.

Elsa's stomach drops when she hears that second gunshot and when she gets a good look at her sister through the blur of pain, she feels horrified. She's been hit- not as bad as herself, but it's still happened and Elsa feels like a complete and utter failure. She hadn't saved her- she's hurt and he could pick her off easily, and here she is trying to save Elsa.

"N-No," she whimpers, half through pain and half in desperation, but there's nothing she can do as Anna hitches under her arms and starts dragging her. "Ahhh-!" she cries out, the pain in her back exploding as she feels the wound drag across the floor. A trail of blood is slick on the ground, growing longer the more Anna pulls her. "Please," she begs, and whether it's for Anna to leave or the pain to stop is unclear.

There's no way on Earth you could convince Anna to leave her sister behind. She feels guilty enough as it is; this would never had happened if she hadn't insisted on them cleaning themselves up. So she grits her teeth and carries on dragging Elsa toward their storefront. Elsa's cries of pain, her begging, feel like a stab wound to Anna's chest, and she cringes, pausing for a moment.

"Elsa, I'm so sorry," she whimpers. "I need to get you somewhere safe. Please don't hate me."

This hurts more than Elsa ever could have imagined. It's disgustingly apparent just how quick her deaths in this arena have been in the past. Beheaded so quickly, she never felt it, though it helps that the pain of her broken heart upon watching Anna die had numbed her to just about everything. Then there was Initiate killing her in the arena before this one, quick and almost...dignified. He had respected her enough to make it as painless as possible.

But this? This is excruciating and mind-numbingly painful. There's a certain panic behind it all in not being able to feel her legs, knowing something in her is damaged so thoroughly so as to not work anymore just leaves her deeply unsettled and afraid.

Her concern for Anna, however, is a distraction from that. Despite the pain she feels as Anna drags her across the ground, despite the fact that it feels like it's never going to end and she's going to be stuck in a state of agony forever, Anna's words cause her to laugh. It's a breathy, pained laugh that ends with her coughing.

"Hate you?" she asks, and she finds it in herself to lift her hand, reaching up to grip hold of Anna's wrist. The idea of ever hating her sister is so completely unfathomable- laughably so. "I-I've only ever- agh-" she cuts off as a particularly nasty burst of pain shoots through her, her eyes squeezing shut as it does so. The trail of blood is growing longer and longer as Anna drags her across the floor towards their intended destination. "-l-lived... to p-protect you. K-keep you safe. I-I could never hate you. E-ever."

Anna feels a fresh wave of tears sting her eyes, falling to her knees once more as Elsa struggles to speak. This has all gone so horrible awry, and even though she's glad that Elsa isn't alone, she's consumed in guilt. When Elsa finishes what she's trying to say, Anna finds herself blinded by tears, giving her sister a weak smile.

"Elsa," she sobs, "I love you so much. Please don't--don't die. Please." Her poor heart can't take it. "I can't lose you. Not again."

She hadn't meant to make Anna cry with her words, they're just simply the truth. Ever since they were little girls and realized how much she could hurt Anna if she wasn't careful, that's all she wanted to do, was to protect her. Of course it was fueled by fear, but also a burning desire to make sure no harm ever came to Anna. And she's failed that, which makes this all the harder to handle.

"Shhh... Anna," she says quietly, shaking her head and trying not to gasp out in pain again. The truth is, she knows she's probably not going to make it. Something is seriously wrong with her and the pain is blinding. "Just- just remember, wh-whatever happens, I'll always b-be there for you."

Even if just in spirit.

Maybe it's because she knows that she's going to die and that there's always that possibility she won't be brought back, that the Capitol will grow bored of her, but she can't help it when she says the next part. "Y-you can just... build a snowman," she whispers. "And think of me."

Anna paws at her tears, shaking her head at what Elsa has to say. She needs to not have an emotional breakdown right now; she needs to get them somewhere safe. But she can't help it. Elsa's saying such sad things, and she only cries harder when she mentions the snowman.

"Elsa, no," she sobs. "I'll s-see you back in the Capitol. But you're--you're gonna be fine," she lies. They both know that's probably not true. But she has to put on a brave face. "Come on, Els, we gotta get back to the Arendelle shop. We're--we're almost there."

Elsa feels awful for making Anna feel bad, but she's honestly just trying to... to get Anna to see that they never really know how much time they're going to have together. Maybe if things weren't so grim right now, she would be a little more distraught about it- more maybe... it's because it's herself with the fatal wound, and she feels like Anna can survive without her, whereas if it were the other way around Elsa doesn't know if she would be able to cope. Anna has always been the stronger one, the fighter, after all.

She falls silent with a nod, deciding to save her energy instead of arguing with Anna or trying to make her see differently. Elsa allows her sister to continue dragging her to the store, holding onto the fact that Anna told her they were nearly there. She doesn't think she has it in her to be pulled too much farther. She tries not to make too much noise, hoping to avoid making Anna feel any worse.

When they do finally make it, it's an extreme relief.

Take me down to the river bend [Open]

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